In these issues, Ultimate Spider-Man has basically become the series guest-starring all New York urban heroes. Even the X-Men are featured prominently.
In Warriors (79-85) the Kingpin is manipulating Spider-Man in order to maintain his control over the criminals in NY. He gives him information about his rival Hammerhead, and Spider-Man decides to go fight Hammerhead. Other “heroes” are involved, Moon Knight, Iron Fist and Shang-Chi, as well as Black Cat and Elektra. In the end it is revealed that Captain Jean De Wolfe is working for Kingpin and helping him manipulate Spider-Man, though at first it looked like she was Spider-Man’s “Gordon”. Meanwhile in the first Annual, Peter starts dating Kitty Pryde which kind of makes sense, but it’s clear that they’re not that serious, at least not yet. This is a very different relationship than with MJ, Bendis is very good at distinguishing them.
In Silver Sable (86-90) even more costumed people show up, this time it’s Silver Sable and her group, who easily find out Spider-Man is someone who goes to Peter’s high school. I don’t understand why the spider-sense didn’t go off when he was being followed, I guess it’s not directly dangerous. But it does work if someone is about to see his identity? Even the Tinkerer and Vulture show up, in a story involving another corporation (other than Oscorp, Justin Hammer): Roxxon.
In Deadpool (91-96) Peter is kidnapped together with X-Men and brought to Krakoa, in a nice follow up to BKV’s run on Ultimate X-Men. I didn’t particularly care for Deadpool, it might be because I am not familiar with his original character in 616. The next story features Morbius, in a classic story where Spider-Man thinks he’s an evil vampire. It’s funny how people can’t believe there are vampires, but they have no problems with spider men. The second Annual already see De Wolfe being killed after she was revealed as a corrupt cop. Punisher shows up as well as Daredevil, hinting at a future storyline.
After introducing so many guest stars, there is a huge story arc that goes back to Peter’s personal life and past. Bendis was very ballsy in calling this arc the Clone Saga (97-105). The original Clone Saga started out with shocking revelations about Peter’s past, but it quickly became a huge event that was poorly executed. The scope here is much smaller, since there is only one title, but Bendis does a great job at giving us a shocking status changing story that doesn’t disappoint.
This being the Clone Saga, it was clear that some of the dead people that suddenly reappear were clones, but I was so confused at first that I thought Aunt May was a clone. Instead it’s just Peter and Gwen clones. I like the different Peter clones, I was incredibly never confused about who was who, even though there were 5 of them. Each was distint (both visually and in their motivations) enough.
I started to despise Fury here, he was so obsessed with protocol and “protecting civilians” that he treated Peter as a weapon, not as a human being. Luckily he came through at the end, thanks to MJ’s speech! And poor MJ, she’s actually become a monster and I am sure there will be consequences. But it was obvious that Peter would realize how much she means to him, and get back together. His relationship with Kitty was doomed from the start. I like that both Fantastic Four and Ultimates where part of the story, and it didn’t feel forced at all. The fact that Doc Ock was involved makes this even more personal.
Finally Aunt May knows about Peter, another inevitable revelation. This arc was one of my favorites of the series, with plenty of mystery and emotions, plus lots of guest stars and plenty of action. Just a great story.
Ultimate Knights (106-110) sees Daredevil creating a group of heroes especially to kill the Kingpin. Moon Knight is one of them, but his split personality takes it too far and endangers Peter. Kingpin also tells Peter that he owns his likeness, and Peter can’t do anything to him. Even Iron Fist betrays the group and works for Kingpin. In the end Moon Knight comes forward to testify against Kingpin, who is finally arrested. I must admit, I am not crazy about this group of heroes, and Daredevil seems a bit our of character to me. But I am glad that Kingpin is in jail again (for how long?). But the most interesting part of this arc was Kitty going to Peter’s high school. I hope she stays for a long time and becomes a regular character.
Finally, we get to issue 111, which is the big talk between Peter and May. This is a very emotional talk and it felt very realistic. It’s also a good jumping on point, summerizing the important events of the series so far. In the middle of it there’s even a fight against Spot, which I don’t think was really necessary, but it did introduce the new regular penciller of the series.
Yes, Mark Bagley left the series after 111 straight issues, a record for consecutive run in a superhero series. His work will be greatly missed by me, I really identify Ultimate Spider-Man with his style, and I started to like his work way back in Amazing Spider-Man (around the time of the original clone saga, actually). Luckily Bendis is staying on board, and will be joined by Stuart Immonen whose work I enjoyed on Ultimate X-Men.